Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis News

September 12, 2025

Top Headlines

Why Alzheimer’s Attacks the Brain’s Memory Hub First

Sep. 2, 2025 — Virginia Tech researchers are investigating how overloaded mitochondria in the brain’s memory circuits may spark early Alzheimer’s damage. Their work focuses on calcium signaling and how it might trigger breakdowns in the entorhinal ...

Your Nose Could Detect Alzheimer’s Years Before Memory Loss

Sep. 1, 2025 — Researchers have uncovered why smell often fades early in Alzheimer’s: the brain’s immune cells dismantle key nerve connections between the olfactory bulb and brainstem. Membrane changes in neurons send an “eat-me” signal to microglia, which ...

Lithium Deficiency May Be the Hidden Spark Behind Alzheimer’s

Aug. 29, 2025 — Harvard scientists have uncovered that lithium, a naturally occurring element in the brain, may be the missing piece in understanding Alzheimer’s. Their decade-long research shows that lithium depletion—caused by amyloid plaques binding to ...

Common Painkillers Like Advil and Tylenol Supercharge Antibiotic Resistance

Aug. 26, 2025 — Painkillers we often trust — ibuprofen and acetaminophen — may be quietly accelerating one of the world’s greatest health crises: antibiotic resistance. Researchers discovered that these drugs not only fuel bacterial resistance on their own ...

Is Ketamine the Answer for Chronic Pain? New Findings Cast Doubt

Aug. 18, 2025 — A sweeping review of 67 trials has cast doubt on the use of ketamine and similar NMDA receptor antagonists for chronic pain relief. While ketamine is frequently prescribed off-label for conditions like fibromyalgia and nerve pain, researchers found ...

Scientists Reversed Memory Loss by Powering the Brain’s Tiny Engines

Aug. 12, 2025 — Scientists have discovered a direct cause-and-effect link between faulty mitochondria and the memory loss seen in neurodegenerative diseases. By creating a novel tool to boost mitochondrial activity in mouse models, researchers restored memory ...

Scientists Find Brain Cell Switch That Could Reverse Obesity’s Effects

Aug. 8, 2025 — High-fat diets and obesity reshape astrocytes—star-shaped brain cells in the striatum that help regulate pleasure from eating. French researchers discovered that tweaking these cells in mice not only impacts metabolism but can also restore ...

New “Evolution Engine” Creates Super-proteins 100,000x Faster

Aug. 8, 2025 — Researchers at Scripps have created T7-ORACLE, a powerful new tool that speeds up evolution, allowing scientists to design and improve proteins thousands of times faster than nature. Using engineered bacteria and a modified viral replication system, ...

Breakthrough Lung Cancer Treatment Supercharges Immune Cells with Mitochondria

Aug. 3, 2025 — Scientists have found a way to supercharge lung cancer treatment by transplanting healthy mitochondria into tumors, which both boosts immune response and makes chemotherapy far more effective. By ...

This New Drug Could Help PTSD Patients Finally Let Go of Trauma

Aug. 3, 2025 — Researchers discovered that PTSD may be driven by excess GABA from astrocytes, not neurons. This chemical imbalance disrupts the brain’s ability to forget fear. A new drug, KDS2010, reverses this effect in mice and is already in human trials. It ...

Scientists Discover the Receptor That Helps Your Brain Clean Itself—and Fight Alzheimer’s

July 27, 2025 — Scientists at UCSF have uncovered how certain immune cells in the brain, called microglia, can effectively digest toxic amyloid beta plaques that cause Alzheimer’s. They identified a key receptor, ...

Three-person DNA IVF Stops Inherited Disease—eight Healthy Babies Born in UK First

July 18, 2025 — In a groundbreaking UK first, eight healthy babies have been born using an IVF technique that includes DNA from three people—two parents and a female donor. The process, known as pronuclear ...

Latest Headlines

updated 10:03am EDT

Scientists Reverse Parkinson’s Symptoms in Mice — Could Humans Be Next?

July 5, 2025 — Scientists at the University of Sydney have uncovered a malfunctioning version of the SOD1 protein that clumps inside brain cells and fuels Parkinson’s disease. In mouse models, restoring the ...

Parkinson’s Reversal? One Drug Brings Dying Brain Cells Back to Life

July 3, 2025 — Stanford researchers discovered that dialing down an overactive enzyme, LRRK2, can regrow lost cellular “antennae” in key brain cells, restoring vital dopamine communication and neuroprotective ...

How Brain Cells Meant to Help May Be Making Depression Worse

June 24, 2025 — Major depressive disorder affects hundreds of millions worldwide, but a key to understanding its origins may lie in the brain’s immune system. New findings spotlight astrocytes—previously ...

Brain Reboot: Gene Therapy Reverses Alzheimer’s Memory Loss in Mice

June 24, 2025 — UC San Diego scientists have created a gene therapy that goes beyond masking Alzheimer’s symptoms—it may actually restore brain function. In mice, the treatment protected memory and altered ...

Invisible ID: How a Single Breath Could Reveal Your Health—and Your Identity

June 13, 2025 — Scientists have discovered that your breathing pattern is as unique as a fingerprint and it may reveal more than just your identity. Using a 24-hour ...

Brain-Computer Interface Restores Real-Time Speech in ALS Patient

June 12, 2025 — A team at UC Davis has made a major leap in neurotechnology, enabling a man with ALS to speak again through a brain-computer interface that converts thoughts into speech in real time. Unlike prior ...

Immune System Discovery Reveals Potential Solution to Alzheimer's

June 2, 2025 — A new way of thinking about Alzheimer's disease has yielded a discovery that could be the key to stopping the cognitive decline seen in Alzheimer's and other neurodegenerative diseases, including ALS ...

Mitochondrial DNA Mutation Accumulation May Not Be a Determining Factor in Aging

May 29, 2025 — Mutations accumulated in mitochondrial DNA associated with aging were earlier believed to cause aging by decreasing the energy-producing function ...

Research Untangles Role of Stress Granules in Neurodegenerative Disease

May 28, 2025 — Scientists found that stabilizing stress granules suppresses the effects of ALS-causing mutations, correcting previous models that imply stress granules promote amyloid ...

Different Versions of APOE Protein Have Varying Effect on Microglia in Alzheimer's Disease

May 27, 2025 — A new study suggests how APOE2 is protective while APOE4 increases disease risk by regulating the brain's immune ...

Experimental Drug May Benefit Some Patients With Rare Form of ALS

May 23, 2025 — Some patients with a rare form of ALS benefited from an experimental therapy, with biomarker evidence of reduced injury to neurons and even limited functional ...

Scientists Design Gene Delivery Systems for Cells in the Brain and Spinal Cord

May 21, 2025 — Research teams have created a versatile set of gene delivery systems that can reach different neural cell types in the human brain and spinal cord with exceptional accuracy. These delivery systems ...

New Research on ALS Opens Up for Early Treatment

May 20, 2025 — Using the gene scissors CRISPR and stem cells, researchers have managed to identify a common denominator for different gene mutations that all cause the neurological disease ALS. The research shows ...

Maintaining Balance in the Immune System

May 19, 2025 — Researchers have published the first description of the role of the ZFP36 family of RNA binding proteins in regulatory T cells (Tregs). Tregs are key to maintaining balance in the immune system and ...

Sugar-Coated Nanotherapy Dramatically Improves Neuron Survival in Alzheimer's Model

May 14, 2025 — In many neurodegenerative diseases, proteins misfold and clump together in brain tissue. Scientists developed a new therapy made of peptides and a sugar that naturally occurs in plants. The ...

May 12, 2025 — Researchers confirm and explore the role of estrogen-related receptors in regulating energy production in muscle cells during exercise. The findings indicate that developing a drug to boost ...

CAR-T Cell Therapy for Cancer Causes 'Brain Fog,' Study Shows

May 12, 2025 — Cancer treatment with a cell-based immunotherapy causes mild cognitive impairment, a Stanford Medicine team found. They also identified compounds that could treat ...

Cell Death Discovery Could Lead to Next-Gen Drugs for Neurodegenerative Conditions

May 12, 2025 — Researchers have discovered how to block cells dying, in a finding that could lead to new treatments for neurodegenerative conditions like Parkinson's and Alzheimer's. The team has ...

Researchers Map 7,000-Year-Old Genetic Mutation That Protects Against HIV

May 9, 2025 — Modern HIV medicine is based on a common genetic mutation. Now, researchers have traced where and when the mutation arose -- and how it protected our ancestors from ancient ...

Unique Model of Rare Epileptic Disease Helps Pinpoint Potential Treatment Route

May 8, 2025 — Scientists have developed a cortical organoid model for UBA5-associated encephalopathy, revealing a new way to possibly address developmental ...

Promising Parkinson's Drug Decoded

May 8, 2025 — How well our brain functions depends heavily on the performance of our nerve cells. That is why they are regularly checked for their proper function -- defective cell components are marked, disposed ...

Incidence of Several Early-Onset Cancers Increased Between 2010 and 2019

May 8, 2025 — In the United States, breast, colorectal, endometrial, pancreatic, and kidney cancers are becoming increasingly common among people under age 50, according to a new ...

Topical Gel Relieved Ear Infections in Animals After Just One Dose

May 5, 2025 — Ear infections are a common and painful occurrence in infants and toddlers. Oral antibiotics are often prescribed for a week to treat the condition, but these drugs can trigger side effects that ...

Harnessing Generative AI to Expand the Mitochondrial Targeting Toolkit

May 5, 2025 — The mitochondrion, often referred to as the powerhouse of the cell, plays critical roles in cellular function, making it a prime organelle to target for fundamental studies, metabolic engineering, ...

How Cellular Quality Control Contributes to Insulin Resistance Related to Type 2 Diabetes

May 2, 2025 — Researchers have revealed critical insights into how impaired mitochondrial dynamics and quality control mechanisms in skeletal muscle influence insulin sensitivity in patients with Type 2 Diabetes, ...

Scientists Engineer Precision Tool for Mitochondrial DNA Manipulation

May 2, 2025 — Many mitochondrial diseases have been difficult to study and treat due to the inherent challenges in accessing mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA). Now, researchers have optimized mitochondrial-targeted ...

A Protein Link Between Brain Diseases and Leaky Blood Vessels

Apr. 30, 2025 — Reduced levels of a critical protein are linked to devastating brain diseases like Alzheimer's, frontotemporal dementia, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Surprisingly, the protein ...

Bacterial Villain Behind Lake Erie's 'Potent Toxin' Unveiled

Apr. 30, 2025 — In the warm summertime waters of Lake Erie, cyanobacteria, or blue-green algae, can proliferate out of control, creating algal blooms that produce toxins at a rate that can harm wildlife and human ...

'Explainable' AI Cracks Secret Language of Sticky Proteins

Apr. 30, 2025 — An AI tool has made a step forward in translating the language proteins use to dictate whether they form sticky clumps similar to those linked to Alzheimer's Disease and around fifty other types ...

Machine Learning Brings New Insights to Cell's Role in Addiction, Relapse

Apr. 30, 2025 — Researchers have applied object recognition technology to track changes in brain cell structure and provide new insights into how the brain responds to heroin use, withdrawal and ...